Considerable numbers winter in the Old World. During the raid-1970's an av- 

 erage of about 80,000 Brant wintered in northwestern Europe (Ogilvie 1978). A 

 compilation of the most recent figures listed by Ogilvie indicates a wintering 

 population on the order of 122,000 birds, with over 80,000 of them wintering in 

 Britain and France. Small numbers also winter in the Far East. The January 

 1976 count in Japan revealed fewer than 100 birds, but Ogilvie (1978) guessed 

 that the total population might contain as much as 10,000 Brant. 



Migration The primary migratory route followed by North American Brant 

 wintering along the Pacific coast extends overwater to the west coast of Calif- 

 ornia from Izembeck Bay in Alaska where a majority of this form (the Black Brant) 

 may congregate. Birds wintering in the western Atlantic follow two routes. The 

 principal one is overland from James and Hudson Bay to the St. Lawrence Estuary 

 and then to Long Island Sound (Bellrose 1976) and/or New Jersey (Palmer 1976b). 

 Some of the birds on the overland route follow the Susquehanna River to New Jer- 

 sey and continue south along the east shore of Chincoteague Bay to Virginia and 

 North Carolina (Palmer 1976a). 



The other primary migration route, one that Bellrose (1976) believed con- 

 siderably less important, follows the coasts of New Brunswick and New England 

 to Long Island; some of these birds proceed south along the coast to the south- 

 eastern states. Further details of migratory routes and chronology of migration 

 for New World Brant are provided by Bellrose (1976) and Palmer (1976a); the lat- 

 ter, Cramp et al . (1977), and Ogilvie (1978) summarize this information for Old 

 World populations. 



Brant may occur off the coast of California as early as mid-October but the 

 peak flights usually occur in mid-November. Birds wintering in the west Atlan- 

 tic may arrive in New Jersey as early as early October, but the peak occurs 

 later in the month, with some moving as late as early November (Bellrose 1976). 

 Concentrations at Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, have reached as many as 100,000 

 Brant in late October; most remain there until mid-May (Palmer 1976a). Most of 

 the migration into the Chesapeake Bay region, just north of the study area, oc- 

 curs between late October and early December (Stewart 1962); some may arrive as 

 early as early September (Palmer 1976a) . The return migration peaks there be- 

 tween late February and early April (Stewart 1962). 



HABITAT 



Breeding Brant breed in coastal tundra, usually just above high tide line. 

 This makes the nesting grounds highly susceptible to flooding by storm tides 

 (Johnsgard 1975, 1978; Ogilvie 1978). Cramp et al. (1977) indicated that this 

 species is often colonial when nesting on small islands near the sea or in lakes. 

 Nests elsewhere may be more dispersed but are usually within a few hundred meters 

 of the tideline. Atlantic Brant prefer grassy tundra along river valleys or 

 near seacoasts. Those nesting in the Yukon Delta are found either along the 

 coast or along major estuaries flanked by tidal meadows. In these areas, nests 

 are mostly found on small islets or along the shores of tidal ponds (Lensink 

 in Bellrose 1976). On the Anderson Delta, nests are placed on grassy hummocks 

 surrounded by tidal flats; the nests average only 3 to 7 in above the high 

 water and in one year averaged only 20 ft from both standing water and snow 



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